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Post by Lane Kent on Dec 25, 2006 20:41:47 GMT
What were other's thoughts. My uncle got up after about 20 minutes and started pottering around in and out seeming to look for jobs. At 7:30 my husband declared enough is enough and went off to do the all day's washing up - a job he had been trying to put off all day. As to me, I stuck it out - just! And only because I didn't fancy having to catch up with it on tape some time. Knowing I'd probably never get round to it.
Okay I might be out of sorts but I hated it. For 15 minutes nothing happpened but him chase her all around London. Her squwking came a bit irritating after a while.
Around 7:40 it really started to pick up and I actually felt a bit sorry for Donna (I won't say why because I forgot to say spoiler risk). Then things started to unfold. But sadly by 7:48 it was getting dull again.
My main problem with it was it was too slow in going, not really much of a plot that was spread so thinly over an hour when it could of been told in 25 minutes and told very well in 25 minutes. Normally we have the problem of too much story but only a 43 timeslot, in this case it was totally in reverse, too little story too much time.
I also thought they didn't explain a few things well, just speeded through explanations, but I didn't particularly care about this when I am sure I should of because I wasn't given a reason to care for any answers to questions.
I enjoyed last year's one but felt let down that I chose this over Emmerdale? It was only passable because it was Christmas and you expect nonsense at Christmas but this certainly won't make good viewing on a DVD or in a July rerun let's say?
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 25, 2006 21:54:55 GMT
Okay my thoughts. Bet you all can't wait for this. LOL!
It could have been better BUT it was a vast improvement without it being The Rose Show. Catherine Tate though is overrated. I thought she was awful. She irritated the hell out of me, not just with all the shouting but her acting. As for lack of explanations, yep. That's a habit of this revamp. Why pick her? Could have been anyone. Why did the spider woman wait until now? Why did they have those Santa and tree gimmicks again? Why does RTD insist of rewriting established facts? He's getting as bad as JNT. LOL! The spiders trappng people in cobwebs for food was done in Planet of the Spiders. And wouldn't all that water have put the fire out? Apart from all that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Just wish RTD wuld drop all the love crap.
7/10
Patsy
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Post by Lane Kent on Dec 25, 2006 22:10:56 GMT
It was better than the Peter Kay episode that's for sure. My main problem with it was boring. Apparently my sister fell asleep. Their household had it on.
One thing it did show is though that you don't need Rose and family even if Donna wasn't that good. I barely gave Rose a second thought.
4/10
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 25, 2006 22:18:10 GMT
Oh even the original series cast say that was never DW and shouldn't have been in there.
Rose who? LOL! Companions come and go (even his own granddaughter) and he's never like that. He even snapped out of it fairly fast after dumping Susan on Earth. That is one aspect I really hate of this new series.
Patsy
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Post by madamesinclair on Dec 25, 2006 22:19:31 GMT
Thought it was excellent. The ending scene between David and Catherine was beautiful.
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Post by sallywebster on Dec 25, 2006 22:20:03 GMT
Havent watched it yet. My parents wanted Emmerdale so I had already set the video at my place for Doctor Who. Will probabaly watch it later this week.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 25, 2006 23:56:22 GMT
Fake snow was a bit naff. It was sticking to them all over the place.
Can't wait for your thoughts, Jez. Bet Eithne will collapse in shock when she reads my comments. LOL!
Patsy
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Post by Lane Kent on Dec 25, 2006 23:59:58 GMT
Perhaps my household was sucked into a parallel universe. I didn't find it bad as such but just boring.
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Post by Nick on Dec 26, 2006 18:45:22 GMT
It was better than last years fiasco.....but surely after the Doctors antics of the last 2 years there can't be anyone on Earth who now dosen't know who the Doctor is...I mean..bouncing down the M4 in the TARDIS..as if ..  |
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Post by sallywebster on Dec 26, 2006 19:22:12 GMT
The M4 - oooh I look forward to that!
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 26, 2006 20:07:29 GMT
That was very bad CGI and the cars weren't even damaged.
Patsy
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Post by sallywebster on Dec 26, 2006 21:36:01 GMT
I can just about see the M4 from my window!
Im going to watch the episode in a bit and then I let you know what I think.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 26, 2006 22:00:54 GMT
Okey doke.
Patsy
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Post by sallywebster on Dec 27, 2006 10:57:37 GMT
Saw it last night. It was a good episode, I enjoyed it. I could tell the Doctor is really missing Rose and felt bad when Catherine Tate wouldnt go with him at the end. Why didnt he go for Christmas Dinner with her when he said he would?
Catherine Tate wasnt bad but I dont think she would work as his assistant long term.
I dont agree that it dragged - infact I didnt look at the clock once to see how much was left!
The preview for the new series looks good.
7/10
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 27, 2006 11:21:28 GMT
He was only so hung on on Rose because of this love crap RTD is obsessed with. As I said before, companions come and go, even his own granddaughter, and he was never like that. He knows he'll get another one and is just as happy to travel alone. There have been a few stories in the past where he doesn't even want another companion, being happier on his own, but they force themselves on him like Leela who dashed into the Tardis and set it on its way. There was about 27 before Rose, 3 of which died and he never behaved like that. The Doctor is asexual so never has those feelings RTD keeps putting in.
Patsy
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Post by sallywebster on Dec 27, 2006 11:41:27 GMT
It was funny people kept assuming he was from Mars!
To a new viewer, they havent given the impression he is asexual. LOL!
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Post by madamesinclair on Dec 27, 2006 11:51:57 GMT
I think the reason the Doctor didn't go have Xmas Dinner with Donna, is because he got too emotionally involved with Rose's family.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 27, 2006 16:17:39 GMT
That's because RTD is too obsessed with sex. It's strange. The majority of fandom HATED the kiss with Grace in the TV movie yet have readily accepted this claptrap which took it that one step further.
Patsy
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Post by Lane Kent on Dec 27, 2006 18:07:18 GMT
I think the reason the Doctor didn't go have Xmas Dinner with Donna, is because he got too emotionally involved with Rose's family. I agree there. I think that was exactly the reason. I liked all that end scene and them remembering how they spent Christmas last year etc. I can also understand why she didn't travel with him. She was just a normal girl and since meeting him her life had been turned upside down and she found out the man she loved had been manipulating her. Added to which he was now dead and in her eyes there was still the mystery of what had happened to The Doctor's "girlfriend" as I can't remember her ever being put out of her misery on that one. I felt a pang of sadness for him though at the end. I didn't for long though as companions come and go and we know he will soon have a new one and that will be that. I also thought him being referred to being from Mars quite funny too Jez. |
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 27, 2006 22:52:45 GMT
Martian joke wore thin though very fast.
Patsy
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Post by eithne on Dec 29, 2006 0:31:52 GMT
Can't wait for your thoughts, Jez. Bet Eithne will collapse in shock when she reads my comments. LOL! You are right about me nearly fainting, but wrong about it being because of your comments. This time it is because I would give it 4 or 5/10. This must be the first time in quite a while I've rated an episode less than you have. Lane perhaps sums up my feelings best: Okay I might be out of sorts but I hated it. For 15 minutes nothing happpened but him chase her all around London. Her squwking came a bit irritating after a while. Around 7:40 it really started to pick up and I actually felt a bit sorry for Donna (I won't say why because I forgot to say spoiler risk). Then things started to unfold. But sadly by 7:48 it was getting dull again. My main problem with it was it was too slow in going, not really much of a plot that was spread so thinly over an hour when it could of been told in 25 minutes and told very well in 25 minutes. Normally we have the problem of too much story but only a 43 timeslot, in this case it was totally in reverse, too little story too much time. I also thought they didn't explain a few things well, just speeded through explanations, but I didn't particularly care about this when I am sure I should of because I wasn't given a reason to care for any answers to questions. I enjoyed last year's one but felt let down that I chose this over Emmerdale? I normally find Catherine Tate fairly funny - but in this she wasn't great at all. I'll admit that I wanted her to go with him at the end, but mainly so he wouldn't be lonely on Christmas Day. Major elements of the story were left unexplained (why did the villian choose Christmas Day to arrive; why were the evil Santa's with their spinny Christmas trees around this year again; why did Lance go to the reception when he knew what the Ramma-thingy could be doing to Donna) The bit on the motorway looked awful I thought, and went on far too long. It was like the SFX people were saying "one minute of this costs the same as five minutes, so we will show five instead to pass the time - the audience won't notice". I totally agree that the snow was awful - why bother at all with it? Did the BBC get a special offer. Two for the price of one for Eastenders and DW? ;D Also, as has been said, there must be nobody on Earth that doesn't know the Doctor anymore with the amount of Earth-based stories there now are. RTD has said that the episodes set on other planets cost too much to make and don't get the same ratings, but I honestly don't think that that is true. We don't need expensive CGI to show the planet really - just good a good plot, and decent sets. I also agree that the preview for the new series looks good. I think Freema should be good in it, and will easily live up to Billie. Edit: While watching the preview did anyone else think they saw Christopher Eccelstone in it briefly? Maybe it is just my imagination - but if anyone taped it maybe they could go through it just to prove me wrong!!! Also I watched Emmerdale Lane, and I'm glad I did after watching this episode on Wednesday night on BBC3. Emmerdale was far better, even if a little silly. |
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Post by sallywebster on Dec 29, 2006 11:16:38 GMT
Yeah I wanted him to go with her as well - I didnt like it that he was on his own.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 29, 2006 15:24:44 GMT
OMG Eithne! That does make a change. I agree with everything you said. I have a feeling RTD is using the excuse from the late 60s. When Pertwee was the Doctor you had the whole UNIT set up because he was working for them while trying to break the Time Lord's exile on him by attempting to get the Tardis working again. Budget was crap, SFX were crapper but the emphasis was more on story than effects to save money which made them more enjoyable to watch. There was character development, you were sad when certain characters died because you'd got to know them. Stories were more well rounded so you knew what the hell was going on. Some should never have been given airtime. There was also plenty of humour. One of the problems with this revival are things going on far too long. Cliffhangers should be short and to the point. They have the same thing happening to many people at the same time and lasting about a minute. The Santas and tree stuff was done last year. I very much doubt if there had been anyone watching on the motorway they'd have been encouraging her to jump. More likely a massive pile up! In the 60s historicals got the lower ratings while space (and earthbound) got higher because of the monsters. So they dropped the historicals which was a shame. RTD has an enormous budget in comparison. CGI is supposed to cost a fraction of the SFX and model shots of old. It's just laziness. He may like DW but he's never written for it before now whereas a lot of the others have with books or audios. They know how to write a good story but with his wielding power, a lot of potential is lost.
Also why is Torchwood 50 mins and DW not?
Jez, he's a traveller and is more than happy to be on his own. This love slant RTD has added has taken away the essence of the Doctor's character.
Patsy
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Post by Lane Kent on Dec 31, 2006 1:57:35 GMT
Eithne I taped it and will be rubbing it off with the Emmerdale omnibus tomorrow me thinks. Agree with everything you said. This episode could so easily of been done in 25 minutes. I'm so glad someone else online agrees with me it wasn't that great. 4/10 max it gets from me because it did have a flicker of entertainment spread throughout it. Albeit very thin.
I haven't found anyone off line who enjoyed this episode yet but I shall let you all know if I do.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 31, 2006 15:34:29 GMT
Kevin O'Sullivan in today's Mirror:
DOC'S IN A BIT OF BOVVER
IF David Tennant is going to quit Doctor Who, I can understand why. Saving the universe week after week is a repetitive business.
As was proved by the dull-as-ditchwater Christmas special, The Runaway Bride.
"Your body's a battleground," said the Doctor after Catherine Tate's bride-to-be character Donna was beamed into the Tardis. He meant: "...the size of a battleground."
But who looked more scary? Tate in her billowing wedding dress or villainess Sarah Parish in her enormous spider outfit?
The prize went to terrifying Tate. Because, cackling constantly as the evil Empress of Racnoss, Parish's cartoon baddie was impossible to take seriously.
Naturally, the Doc foiled Racnoss. But Donna decided she wasn't up to this time travelling lark and went back to her mum's.
"Am I bovvered?" said the Doctor. OK, he didn't say that. But were any of us really bovvered?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garry Bushell in the People:
31 December 2006
DR WHO-HO-HO-HO-NO
bushell on the box
Garry Bushell
ALIENS drilled a hole to the earth's core on Dr Who. It still wasn't as big as the ones in Russell T's script. It felt lazier than usual, with recycled Santa robots, the sonic screwdriver over-used as a magic wand, a spectacularly senseless plot, and a lift that appeared to go from Chiswick to the Thames Barrier 20-odd miles away... Insanely, the Thames drained (no word on the North Sea). A space ship strong enough to survive the earth's molten core was shot down by a few tanks. Maddest of all, the Doc asked Catherine Tate's thick, frumpy bride to join him. Why? I suppose a wife this grumpy would silence a Cyberman.
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